The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “graffiti art”

I am always curious as to the motives for street art . But in this case who is Daphne? Is she real? A TV character? A quick search through google reveals the answer. Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist who was assassinated October 16th. Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese journalist, writer, and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. This street art was a random scrawl on a wall near the seafront.

Wikipedia and others report her journalism as “In particular, she focused on investigative reporting into government corruption, nepotism, patronage, allegations of money laundering links between Malta’s onlinegambling industry and organised crime”.

On 16 October 2017, Caruana Galizia died in a car bomb attack close to her home, attracting widespread local and international reactions.

In Dec 2017 three men were arrested in connection with her murder and 45 journalists have established The Daphne Project to conclude her investigation.

This story will continue to run. In May 2018 two laptop and three hard drives were handed over to German police by her family. The original belief that her laptop was destroyed by the car bomb was wrong as that laptop had not been used for two years. The family had refused to hand these over previously to the Maltese authorities.

A shrine to her of flowers and candles has been regularly destroyed and replaced.

Slovenia is less than 2.5 hours away whether you fly to Ljubljana or Zagreb. Zagreb has more flights and Ljubljana airport is nearer of course, however it means an unfortunate visitation to Stansted.

The drive from Zagreb is around 90 minutes and is painless, but one needs to remember to stop at a services and purchase the Vignette, a kind of road tax that can be bought weekly up to annually. tolls.eu/slovenia

A weekly Vignette is 15 euros. The country is essentially unspoiled and will not remain so for much longer, indeed only the lack of direct flights to Ljubljana exerts some control over this. Visiting in May, the hotels are all full in the centre and some advance booking is essential.

For anyone who has travelled Europe , Ljubljana can be described as a cross between Prague and Amsterdam, without the crowds. There is a river through the city alongside most of the eating and drinking goes on. Food and drink is cheap and there is a certain Italian flavour to many of the restaurants, which are surprisingly cheap. A few curious things emerge like giving customers apples, we found them on the table in cafes and bars and also in our hotel. There are some building works going on in central Ljubljana but this does not really impact anyone visiting. Anyone from UK will be surprised at the cheapness of franks in the bars and also the great service from the bar staff.

Hiring a car is also cheap and means that in around an hour one can reach any of the borders with Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia. Slovenia also has a very small stretch of beach. Drive down any motorway, which are dual carriageways as we know them, and there are plentiful signs to castles and other amazing places. The Lippizaner horses can be seen, Predjama castle is a must and Lakes Bled ( a little touristy) and Bohinj need to be seen. A 30 minute boat ride on Lake Bohinj in an electric boat that is 62 years old is worth doing.

There are many different walks one can do, around lakes or just through countryside.

This is a country to visit for a long weekend or even a week. Walking through the city is easy and anyone wanting 10,000 steps a day will find it surprisingly easy. And I have not even mentioned the amazing street art in Metalkova in Ljubljana.

One of the best aspects of street art is the surprise to find it where least expected. A quick nighttime walk around Cardiff was enlightened by finding some dragon street art next to the Millenium Stadium. Sadly only I phone photos in the dark but quite amazing still the same.

Prahran is a fairly inauspicious suburb in Melbourne . It is however home to The Cullen hotel one of the worlds top 100 boutique hotels. The Cullen is an artistic hotel with fairly bright prints on every wall and rooms decorated in unusual styles that include donkeys and mules staring down at the bed as you sleep.

Prahran is also home to a fair number of street art designs including one of the best I have seen worldwide . This excellent piece of work is down a dismal alley and one can only presume the artist chose this site for some very precise reason.

There are street art paintings on many walls and garage doors. Even brightening up some of the more miserable looking alleys where rubbish bins line the walls.

Craiova, Romania’s 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. The population of 300,000 makes it the same size as Iceland. It lies around 145 miles from Bucharest.

There are many things to see and do in Craiova however the street art does not mentioned in any of the official websites.

Ljubljana is Slovenia’s capital and largest city. It’s known for its university population and green spaces, including expansive Tivoli Park. The curving Ljubljanica River, lined by outdoor cafes, divides the city’s old town from its commercial hub. Ljubljana also has many museums, including the National Museum of Slovenia.

What however is less well known is the street art that covers walls in many parts of the city. Here is a selection of some of the variety you can see, all from the city centre. Some are works of art whilst some border almost on the graffiti border. Would you want a half eaten fox on the wall of your restaurant?

MLK seems to be wondering which bicycle he might use?

Cannot make up my mind if this half eaten fox is a good thing to see against the wall of a restaurant?

An unusual mixture of street art to observe whilst drinking coffee or beer